Trump on Terrorist – If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em

Margaret, which voters have their heads farther up their asses, Trump supporters or Brexit voters? Wait a minute. Is it farther or further? I don’t know, but either way the asshats they are now wearing aren’t making anyone great again.

I know I offended some Bernie fans when I posted my support of Hillary. But let’s be clear on how the cow ate the cabbage. We need to get on the same team or we’re gonna end up a lot deeper in the shitter than the Brits. If Donald Trump wins this election, the only Bern anyone will be feeling is heartburn.

Donald thinks the way to handle terrorists is to fight fire with fire. According to him, water boarding is bad but it’s no worse than what the terrorist do. So Donald’s plan to deal with terrorists is to be more like the terrorists? In my book, that’s kind of like solving gun violence by giving more people guns. No wait…

You know what? I give up. If violence is your answer then you are too stupid to be asked the question in the first place. Donald’s response to terrorism is torture. His response to a global financial crisis is to celebrate the increase in greens fees at his Scottish golf club. His response to abortion is to punish the woman. His response to immigration is racism. His response to Orlando is to double down on racism. His response to a debate question about sexism is to attack the female moderator. His response to a disability is to mock the disabled.

I’m willing to agree to disagree with the Bernie supporters about who is the better Democratic nominee. In the end, I think we can find common ground. But Donald doesn’t like common ground because he can’t develop it for a profit. News Flash: his supporters aren’t looking for common ground. They (and their leader) seem to prefer scorched earth.

I wish I had something funny to write. I really do. But this isn’t funny anymore. I mean it. Really.

Responses

I think that even though I wholeheartedly disagree with the statement about Hillary being the better democratic candidate between her and Bernie. I agree that Hillary must win at this point. I just want to see her on real offense. I also would have liked to see her speak to the Bernie supporters and let us know that she ACTUALLY heard us much sooner. Sending Al Gore is at best a desperation signal. She should have dispatched Bernie right away and everywhere he had the most influence instead of waiting until Trump, Johnson and Stein started sucking up Bernie supporters poll-wise. I also have no respect for the nincompoop she hire to manage her campaign….

She is kind of lucky the repugs nominated Trump. Go Hillary! Finish Trump off and prove me wrong governing!

Wow! What a wonderful, uplifting speech last night from President Obama. I felt so proud that he is our president and I was moved by his words. Gato, I think you are right. It’s time for the men in the white coats to come and get Trump and take him away. A disgrace. And I have no idea how someone like UAW could consider supporting Trump after him calling for Russia to interfere in our election.

Aw, come on, UAW… Don’t you think most of us know that this convention is taking place in America?

If there were a gazillion flags up there, I’m sure some people would be pissing and moaning about the sheer “disrespect” of committing to such “anti-American values” like equal rights for black and Latino and native and LGBTQ and Muslim Americans, and a reasonable minimum wage, and a woman’s right to choose, et cetera, in the presence of OUR FLAG…

On the other hand, dozens and dozens of flags were displayed behind a candidate who espouses everything antithetical to the foundations of our country. How’s that work for you?

Apparently, well enough… (Well, Pi seems to like you so, on the basis of that I will offer the smallest apology for being such a snark. But that’s it!)

Of course this is crap – just like “I have no investments in Russia. I don’t know who Vladimir Putin is,” and “Hillary takes naps all the time,” are crap. Where does he GET this stuff, one has to wonder/

This is the kind of bizarre disjointed imagery that sometimes dances its merry way into my head in that strange zone between being awake and finally hitting deep sleep… In short, “The Twilight Zone”…

Confession here… I used to think He, Trump was kind of entertaining, that he knew exactly what he was doing, gaming the system. But it has gotten so bizarre that it’s really uncomfortable…

Were a member of my family behaving like this, I’m pretty sure the rest of us would be meeting to schedule an intervention, and looking for an appropriate inpatient facility. And it would goddam not be the White House!

Helen dear, the suspense is killing me. The GOP convention has come and gone, the DFL convention is underway, yet Mount Saint Helen has yet to erupt! The tension is unbearable, it’s like watching someone blow up a very old balloon. Please let us know what you’re thinking about all this now; don’t put it off till you explode from the built-up pressure!

Helen dear, the suspense is KILLING me. The GOP convention has passed, the DFL convention is underway, and Mount Saint Helen inexplicably doesn’t erupt! The tension is unbearable, it’s like watching someone blow up a very old balloon. Speak, woman, speak! Please!

Alaska,
I’ve been thinking about what you wrote about Hillary and Bernie and how you view your vote as an Alaskan. If you’d like to share, I’d love to hear which of the politicians currently on the scene in D.C. you think are good, or at least speak to the issues you care about most.

Thanks for your clarity Pi…your story is a perfect illustration of the difference between Bernie’s inclusive vision and Hillary’s centrist one….
However, she got the votes and the win. Now, I hope she can get the votes necessary to defeat Trump’s regressive vision!
It’s so sad that we were shown an opportunity to instill and support true progressive values as a political party via Bernie. Now we have to just hope for the best from a candidate that has centrist values that probably won’t significantly change our political system to lift up the voters who need the most support. I hope that I’m wrong and that Hillary/the Democratic party will surprise us all! Bernie was/is an inspiring teacher…hopefully Hillary will prove to be an apt student!

Terri, I too was raised in NYC and have lived (mostly) in NY state in my 70 years. I feel/am entitled in many ways by living in this state. We’re only an hour and a half upstate from the city but it’s a Repuglican stronghold…sigh…Trump territory. However, this reality does serve to balance out any guilt I might feel about any entitlement!

Terri- Apropos of nothing here, did you know NY is the state which owns the highest percentage of its own lands? I’ve long wondered how that sorts itself out there.as regards uses, public ownership, and so on

We are 2nd behind y’all but adding state and federal land ownership Alaska is 95.8% government owned – a sore point with State’s rights dingleberries here and even more so with the AIP bunch
( Ignore the tribal-lands reported for Alaska on that chart- whoever put it together does not understand sovereign tribal land ownership v for profit Native Regional Corporation land ownership here – most Native lands are owned by the for profit corporations)

Terri-
Sorry – I got so busy trying to show what my vote for President means here that I forgot to address your question.
I think Ms Clinton has been treated very unfairly . I admire her strength and tenacity but I disagree with her politics. Pretty seriously disagree .
I am a Democratic Socialist through and through and have been for the 44 years I’ve been a registered voter.
I have always had to settle for the closest fit and I fully recognize that I am a tiny minority in my state
Mr Sanders is the only exception to the closest fit dealie at the federal level that I can remember
I respect his choices at this point but am watching to see how the convention plays out before I do any more deciding.
It doesn’t really matter who I vote for though and I would like folks to see that.
If anyone is really trying to understand the eff-it! vote for Trump just to upend the system I implore you to pay attention to what the reality is for pleanty of us out here.
I’m not going to vote for that asshat, ever, but it does not matter if I vote for HRC. At all.

Terri-
Please- if you really are in NY you will have no idea what it is like to be a minority party in a no-influence state.
With 3 electoral college votes Alaska is highly unlikely to change anything for any candidate . Add in that we have only gone for a D as president once since statehood (even though we were a majority D state before oil brought southern Rs here to change everything) and you can see my vote doodly squat.
As of April 2015
in our 441 PRECINCTS there were 501,515 people registered to vote statewide of which
15,672 are of the Alaska Independence party ( leave the US types)
68,976 registered Democrats
6,904 registered Libertarians
133,662 registered Republicans
87,368 registered non- partisan, TEND to vote D but not a given at all
185,925 registered Undeclared, tend heavily to vote R

The last 3 totals 231 & 1,713 & 1,060 are the Constitution party, Greens, and Vets.
We cannot currently outvote the Rs in any way. My vote for President really means nothing EXCEPT to me
ALL of my other votes have an outsize effect as 1- we have a small population, 2- we have a very unusual specifically non-dillon’s rule state constitution which allows for more home rule government at local level for those of us in unified city and boroughs.
Folks in the unorganized borough have to hope the frickin Legislature will do its job :

“The Unorganized Borough is the part of the U.S. state of Alaska not contained in any of its 19 organized boroughs. It encompasses nearly half of Alaska’s area, 323,440 square miles (837,700 km2), an area larger than any other U.S. state, and larger than the land area of the smallest 16 states combined. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, it had a population of 81,803, 13% of the population of the state.”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unorganized_Borough,_Alaska

I always vote, always, so I can have a say in that closest to where I live but President? That’s only for me and Ms Clinton is a Centrist. i don’t approve of Centrism. I may yet vote for her but it won’t help either.

BTW, the biggest work of the first Obama campaign here was for all of us to write to other states’ voters and tell em why we were voting for Mr Obama in face of SP being the VP candidate and our then current-gov.
i wrote hundreds of cards knowing full well our vote didn’t mean jack but if we could encourage others in the big states we would have helped for real .

Hi Alaska,
I, too, worked hard on the Obama campaign, as did my son. I found him inspiring on so many levels, and I still do. Like Gato, I do not feel the same about Hillary, but an election is a choice. I, do, however, feel HRC been given a raw deal, and she is held to a different standard than all other candidates. I think sitting the election out means that you are letting other people make the decision for you. I am wondering how you feel about the fact that Bernie himself has endorsed her. Does that affect your feelings in any way? I am truly curious and I ask with sincere interest in hearing your thoughts.
Easier, I agree with all you said. For some reason Trump supporters seem to not care about his lack of truthfulness, his egomania, his ignorance, and his checkered business and personal history. WTF?

gato- thank you.
I appreciate your response.
Of note:
Mr Obama also came to Alaska during his tenure . We are seeing some real response from his administration- something sadly lacking from DC in general.and so far from Ms Clinton on Native issues.

Mr Sanders sent his wife here, he appointed a native advisor for his campaign and actually educated himself on the peculiar and special differences of this state with 15% all Native, another 5 percent of us mixed race white and Native- a demographic which is unheard of elsewhere. We have VERY different lives and needs and are always at risk of getting swallowed up by the horsepunky out of Anchorage where half the state’s population lives ( and thrives on money made from bush Alaska resources )

If anyone wonders why I stand against Jackson’s ghost- I stand against populist BS of “othering” folks to damn near extinction and as such spit on it in Mr Trump and any stray Dems we have here who still do it…and we do have em. Thank the stars we are not still the party of Jackson!!!!!!

Pi…! Admonition duly noted, and I deserve it. You were incredibly gracious about it, too, as you always are about everything, somehow even when you’re going “pfft”… 🙂

Here I sit in Connecticut, almost always a reliably blue state overall, despite large swaths of red, pretty much generally looking at things from my own perspective. And my dear Republican husband keeps saying that he won’t vote for Trump, but won’t vote for Hillary, either, and I don’t think he’s given it a moment’s thought, really. So I was primed to jump right on my Liberal high horse about this.

I do think the whole electoral college system is a disenfranchising dinosaur, especially with the feature that some delegates are more “equal” than other delegates – a concept right out of “Animal Farm,” as far as I’m concerned. And, as I mentioned earlier, I’m glad to see that Bernie people and Clinton people have formed a joint committee to look at the whole system. Also see that Debbie Wasserman Schultz has gotten the boot, but don’t know much about that yet, and not sure how much I care…

I have not been a Hillary fan from the get-go, and I’m not even sure I’d call myself a “fan” right this minute. But the more crap she has to endure, the more I must say I admire her unflappability, and even her nose-to-the-grindstone work ethic. And I DO think she’s capable of listening, which is a very important character trait. (I don’t think Bernie is a sell-out, and if Bernie didn’t think she was going to pay some attention to his issues, I can’t imagine he’d support her. To put it simply, Bernie is no Paul Ryan.) And, so far, Tim Kaine seems pretty appealing…

UAW-
Congrats on those fat and sassy grands! Mine are 4000 miles away so thank heavens for Skype and the like
Glad you found someone to share your life with and got some extra family in the bargain 🙂
I understand the impulse to crash the system with a Trump vote and I more than understand the knowing the everyday person is of little concern except at election time to the Democratic party anymore BUT I’m used to being the Democrat who serves as warning to Andrew Jackson’s ghost .
As such, I’ll stay in the fold and argue til I drop dead or the party does… like the R party seems to be doing.

My state has but 3 electoral votes and has only voted for a Dem once since statehood .IF it looks like Ms Clinton will come up at all my vote will count but as it is she is down 16.2 % from Mr Trump right now. ( It was actually considerably closer in Jan this year) My vote for President has meant nothing , ever, except in the primary caucus vote. Ever.

I worked hard on Mr Obama’s first campaign and some on the second because , unlike Ms Clinton, he actually opened offices here. He actually acted like we matter. His campaign actually asked us what we cared about. Means something to those of us used to getting ignored.

We’ll see after the convention what the Clinton campaign behaves like and how far it pushes the reforms Mr Sanders has pushed for. We’ll see if the reform of the delegate process makes it through the DNC . ( A current super delegate lives a 1/4 mile from me- we are neighbors, we have stood waving campaign signs together and the like but I am appalled that she can go and vote against the 81.5% of us who caucused for Mr Sanders . She stirred up a local flap by thumbing her nose at us and quite frankly cost Ms Clinton a few hundred votes- which here is far more important in the down ticket votes we’ll lose if folks just don’t vote at all.

The Alaska Democratic party had quite a surge with Mr Sanders’ entry into the arena- a surge we really needed. I hope the Clinton campaign doesn’t snuff it out because we’ll still be here no matter who y’all vote in as President.

As for trying to convert the Trumpites to see the light, don’t waste you energy. The are the living example of Eric Hoffer’s “True Believer”. Being a true believer of Trump or anyone else who comes down the pike makes them special as nothing else in their lives apparently does. Sad, isn’t it!

Gato, I totally agree with you. I am tired of some the Bernie supporters and their supposed “purity”. An election is a choice, and we know what the choice is this year. This is the Ralph Nader voters all over again. And look how that turned out! I watched Bernie this morning and he is supporting Hillary. So, Bernie bros, get on board! I think the DNC convention this week will be an eye opener compared to that s**t show we were subjected to last week. Somehow I doubt if any Dem speaker will be cribbing speeches from the Trump campaign. I’m not quite sure why Trump gets away with all the ridiculous, ignorant things he says, but voters better wake up and start thinking.

Couple of internet news bits this morning: Apparently Clinton delegates and Sanders delegates have jointly agreed to form a “unity committee” to look at revising the delegate system. Hopefully the hard-core Bernie supporters threatening to either not vote, or vote for The Orange Thing, will take note…

This announcement was, of course, way down the scroll from the most “important” piece of “news”: That He, Trump is really mad at Cruz and Kasich, and is considering forming a couple of super-PACs to “ruin their political careers.” Like so many other things uttered by this Oracle of Self-Importance, he may or may not actually “do” it, but whatever piece of absurdity he throws out is immediately enshrined in twenty-point type (with a photo) and plastered all over the web… Were Hillary to somehow discover a cure for cancer AND the secret to eternal life, the media would still focus on He, Trump’s latest 140-character announcement that grilled cheese sandwiches are for “losers”…

HTG, take away the big airplane and the helicopters and the gilded furniture, the smoke machine, and the lawsuits, and you’d have nothing more than a rambling lunatic with a sandwich board whom people would make every effort to avoid on any Brooklyn street corner…

Glad I got that off my chest… Now Ill try to have a reasonably sane day myself… Hope all you Porch Sitters do the same!

Oooohhhh….. That mean Hillary tried to defeat Bernie when he was her opponent! How unfair!! She wasn’t supposed to that!! She was supposed to be “nice” and say how wonderful he is… That’s CHEATING!!!

And those bad, bad people at the DNC weren’t supposed to try to support the candidate they thought most likely to defeat the Cheeto Jesus, either, were they?

I’m sure Bernie would be pleased and suitably humbled to learn that you will not vote for the candidate he now supports, since YOUR standards and moral principles are so much higher and steadier than HIS…

Whether we like it or not, we now have only two candidates. One of them will be elected. Which of the two will be more likely to listen to Bernie’s – and your – concerns…?Think about it.

Perhaps common ground could have been found if the #DNC hadn’t rigged the primary and engaged in #ElectionFraud. Hillary cheated to win the primary she will never have my support. #NeverHillary #JillStein2016 #BernieOrGreen

We have no idea what PBO has endured as the first black President… Because he doesn’t talk about it much. And, despite any and all accusations of Hillary’s “playing the woman card,” I doubt we have any real idea what that’s been like for her, either. Maybe in the future we will hear about these things; I think we would be enlightened.

What really sucks (excuse me) is when people put someone down because of his/her race or gender or whatever, are called on their doing so, and then accuse the “caller” of playing whatever the hell “card” is involved.

There IS racism in this country, and plenty of it, and there IS sexism, too. Those who have the good grace to proceed with their work as if they aren’t affected by it have my highest regard.

On the other hand, we have this coddled, spoiled, brat of a “candidate” who just can’t seem to STFU about how he’s been “treated unfairly,” over and over again, by any comment whatsoever that isn’t totally worshipful of his Fabulous Self. There just aren’t enough jets, helicopters, mansions, wives, worshippers, towers, accolades, or ANYTHING likely to make him feel that his GD father is finally going to respect him.

Terri, my husband told me about hearing the author of the Art of the Deal speak on NPR. If that individual is not able to convince Trump’s followers, about his not having the personality for the top job, I don’t know who can. I chime in with Gato, the man is a complete fabrication of the press and people don’t seem to care that the real Trump is not fit to be president based on behavior he has displayed his entire life.

I was here when the marine barracks were bombed in Beirut. Nobody blamed Reagan or his Secretary of State at the time. We had other instances of terrorist acts being perpetrated against our interests abroad. Nobody ever blamed any member of the US government. Anybody with any kind of sense knows that we are not inviting people with different ideologies to come here and commit acts of terror. Congress funds our embassies, the Secretary of State does not. But for selfish interests, the GOP has held Secretary Clinton to higher standards than anybody before her. People have basically left fairness and judgement aside where she is concerned. I am sorry we lost fine people at the hand of terrorists in Benghazi. However, holding Secretary Clinton responsible for it is disingenuous and dishonest.

Secretary Clinton is not perfect. But between her and the alternative, I would chose the person with her resume.

What is so difficult to comprehend is that nothing – apparently NOTHING – revealing He, Trump’s pathology seems to make a dent in the fervor of his “believers.” He himself said that were he to stand in the middle of the street and shoot someone, his “supporters” wouldn’t care. They certainly didn’t care that he said it; hardly any eye blinked, and nary a voice was raised in disagreement…

Were he not running for President, and were he not gifted with endless coverage by the press, day after day after day, we could write him off for pretty much what he is: An arrogant, narcissistic eccentric with a bunch of money (although I’m sure less than he claims) who could be appropriately derided and ignored for exactly those reasons. But that’s not the situation…

He is the spawn of a “perfect storm” of the forces that have been shaping our society for decades: Greed, prejudice, lust for limitless power, fear of the “other,” and that good ol’ Murrican foundational belief that if you don’t make a million, it’s your own dam fault.

If the GOP thought they could “control” such a creature, they have been sorely deluded by their own arrogance. He is NEVER going to “pivot” toward being more “Presidential”; that is abundantly clear. He is, ironically, a prisoner of his own personal dilemma: His “supporters” love his unpredictability, his showmanship, his “brashness,” his snake oil. The minute he becomes more “normal,” he loses them. And, unless he does “pivot,” he’s pretty much unelectable by the general populace. (At least I hope to god that’s the case!)

His belief in his own limitless power may carry him all the way to November. However, I think there’s a good chance that, sometime before then, he will figure out a way to weasel out of the whole thing. Should he be faced with the possibility of losing, this will probably be the case. (And I don’t think there’s any way he can sue the entire electorate, although I’m sure his lawyers are already looking…)

The “rigged system” will suddenly do something, treat him “so unfairly,” that he will “choose” to drop out of the whole game. And I’m pretty sure that’s what he considers all this: A game. A “deal” to be made. Another “reality show.” And people to be fleeced, rejected, and treated with utter contempt – which seems to be pretty often his modus operandi.

If you haven’t had a chance to see Tony Schwartz, Trump’s co-author for The Art of the Deal, being interviewed this past week please google and watch. He is sounding the alarm about the “real” Trump, who he describes as a sociopath. It’s very interesting. He says he wrote the entire book after spending 18 months doing research with and on Trump. (He also said he would be surprised if Trump even read the book since he has such a short attention span). Schwartz basically describes Trump as a self-aggrandizing liar. He’s only coming forward with this information now because he is appalled at the idea that Trump is running for president.

Hey, Easier – This is a very touching and meaningful anecdote. I’ve tried to write some thoughtful response to you at least three or four times this evening, and I still haven’t quite figured out how to do it…

Maybe I can’t.

When our guts are telling us that something isn’t right, and we don’t know “why,” I think it might make sense to just listen to that gut thing…

I was watching the “Larry King Live” show on CNN years ago. Donald Trump was the guest being interviewed that day. At one point during the show, I heard him say to Larry King: “Your breath does not smell so good”. I was horrified that he felt the need to make this statement to the host, on air, for the entire planet to hear. He did not think about waiting for a commercial break to let the man in on his breath problem. I was embarrassed for Larry and I thought Donald Trump was the most self-centered human being ever, for being so uncouth and not gracious to his host. I never forgot it.

That episode told me a lot about the man so many people in this country are enthralled with. He has not changed, based on how the primaries went and probably how the general election campaign is going to go. I simply don’t get the attraction. How you treat your fellow man says a lot about you. That day, I thought he was ugly to Larry and to the rest of us listening to the program. I felt real discomfort. From that day forward, I had not thought very highly of the man. I hope the voters out there see through it all and come to their senses come this November.

Dear fellow porch dwellers, have you every heard the term logorrhea? Very simply but the mouth does something another part of the body much further down can do from time to time when the internal plumbing is upset. In past years, one Fidel Castro in Cuba was accused of this when his speeches to the gathered people went on for hours. Hair Trump should be the last one to brag about giving a 75 minute “acceptance speech” and making convention history. Logorrhea is definitely a symptom that something is very wrong. I know its easy to not quite see this inasmuch as there has been something very wrong from day one of his campaign, but hey, it exists, its there. One of the most basic reactions after enduring this sort of word spew after awhile is to simply turn of the TV or the radio and get going on something else of much more worth. Oh, and never mind trying to get this through the Trump Curtain. He wouldn’t believe it anyway. The ego, you know.

Seriously, UAW?? For eight years (and more) the Republicans in Congress have stamped their feet like children having a termper tantrum and said “No!” to anything and everything Obama or anyone else from slightly right of center to the far left has suggested. According to the GOP, Romneycare was great when he did it in Massachusetts, anathema when enacted under Obama’s aegis. If a Dem says it, the response is “No!” And you’re saying Pelosi, et al., won’t compromise????? I think you must have your eyes/ears on backwards.

Alaskapi..Re”How’re those lil ones of yours?”
Grand-babies(twins) are a year old now… fat and sassy…going to be a handful soon(are already) . To bad their so far away. 16 hr drive.
Remarried in Feb and now have a 13 yr old granddaughter.
Even my liberal son is voting for Trump…he wanted Bernie.

Terri…sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.
True…I do not like her politics
True…I think she belongs in jail
True…I think she is an accessory in Ambassador Stevens murder
True…I’m still wondering when the Dem Party will go back to being the party of the American worker
until then

“It’s called compromise which if my Latin serves me probably means “with” (com) and “promise”. That’s what compromise means to me – it comes with a promise that both sides will win in some sense. Just saying “NO” means we all lose.”
Seems someone should have told Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi this…talk about a do-nothing congress.
Maybe the Dem party should try compromising for once.

Hi Gato,
I did see the Trump/Pence Sixty Minutes interview. Wow, that was cringeworthy! Pence was so obsequious and Trump constantly interrupted and corrected him. Those two want to lead the U.S.? As Trump would say “sad.”
And today I woke up to the news that Melania Trump, who claimed she wrote her own speech, plagiarized Michelle Obama’s 2008 convention speech. Oy! I can’t believe anyone would consider voting for this crowd.

Terri, should you choose to spend some time feeling nauseous, take a look at some of the excerpts from the He, Trump/Pence “interview” last night on Sixty Minutes. Pence can hardly get in a word edgewise – nor, BTW can Leslie Stahl, the alleged “interviewer.”

Summer here is going well enough. Some more rain would be nice, though.

Hey, Terri – Heard that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will be providing some commentary/coverage the GOP show. THAT would probably be worth watching… As for Scott Baio, a TV sit-com actor seems like a good fit to me.

Every time I think of even the IDEA of allowing open-carry anywhere within ten miles of such a potentially-contentious circus, I feel faint…

Hi Gato,
I, too, have been guilty of insulting those I don’t agree with. And I should try to do better. However, I find the right seems to be so much more vitriolic and so extreme. Calling someone like Hillary Clinton stupid is just plain divorced from reality. Accusing people of being a criminal without one thing to back it up is wrong. I won’t be watching the extravaganza this week. They apparently could not find one credible speaker to say something of substance. Listing to Trump’s wife and children tell us what a great guy he is sounds like the ultimate in boring. And I can’t imagine what pearls of wisdom has- been Scott Baio will bring to the stage. If you read the NY Times, check out the article about Trump’s behavior as a youngster In Queens. Then read the article about how he treats people he does business with. They are eye openers.

Hi, Terri – Well, “ranters gotta rant,” and I’m afraid I must include myself too frequently among those… You make an excellent point: Very few of us can calmly point out that we disagree with someone’s position on a subject, and then at least try to offer some substantive reasons why.

It’s probably because so often our “positions” come from some very not-logical place, or a source we don’t want to acknowledge – usually fear, I think, in any of fear’s gazillion manifestations: Fear of change, fear of losing “our way of life,” fear of the unknown, fear of the different, and, of course, fear of what we believe is critical to our definitions of our “selves.” (And that can include anything from the kind of sneakers we wear to how we envision the Almighty.)

He, Trump’s attaching schoolyard nicknames to his opponents is all about doing this, in its most infantile and blatant form. It’s all so “third grade,” and it apparently resonates with lots of people. It makes everything so EASY – no thought or analysis required. Nobody has to actually come up with any plan to deal with fundamentalist terrorism as long as it can just be labelled as such.

UAW–Why can’t you just say you disagree with Hillary Clinton’s politics and leave it at that? Why do you have to insult and demonize her? Cutting and pasting nasty photos is not going to change anybody’s mind. The Republicans have been out to get her for years and their relentless accusations and investigations have all come to nothing! Eight investigations into Benghazi? Email? Millions of our tax dollars wasted on useless investigations which turn up nothing? Where is your outrage about that? Where is your sense of fairness? Smearing the first and only woman to run for president? Calling her stupid??? Everyone knows she’s extremely intelligent and knowledgable. Unless you graduated from Yale Law School like she did, maybe you should shut it.

UAW- You’re making my old AFL-CIO bones ache what with bringing up our quitty-pants half-term-gone gov, ya know?
I’m not fond of Ms Clinton but I despise Ms Palin if you recall.
She was the asshat who played games through almost an entire legislative session filling my district’s state Senate seat. Ole fuzz for brains was mad because our Senator took a job in the Obama administration so we got to watch her parade of BS for the whole dang session. Even the Rs got ticked before it was over.
Everytime she wants to talk about the lil people, the every day person, I remember she left a whole district without representation for almost a whole session because we had the effin gall to vote in a D and she wanted to appoint an r to represent us and kept getting shot down . Pffft! on her and the populist crap she spews. she could care less about lil folks.
So, I don’t give a rat’s patoot what SP thinks about anything especially Hillary Clinton.
You can keep kicking tires my friend but that SP one is flatter n a fritter and noting is gonna fix that flat.
How’re those lil ones of yours?

Of course not; you’re being totally ridiculous. A twelve-year-old with a toy gun, a man face down and handcuffed on the ground, a man – and his girlfriend – shouting that he has a firearm and a license to carry… None of these people were attempting “suicide by cop.”

And I can assure that NOBODY attempts “suicide by broken taillight.”

Saw a video some time ago of an older, apparently somewhat deranged, white man brandishing a rifle on a street corner. The police officers spent almost FORTY MINUTES “talking him down,” and not a shot was ever fired.

Officers are BEGGING for suspension of Ohio’s open carry provisions during the GOP convention, and I don’t blame them. But, since Ohioans, in their “wisdom,” have made open carry into a legal right for just about anyone, it’s not going to happen. Nice.

No, I don’t believe He, Trump has publicly condoned the shooting of police officers. He has, however, condoned killing the “families of terrorists,” of physically attacking anyone who disagrees with him at one of his “events,” of “punishing” any woman who has an abortion, and so on, and so on. And then he leaves it up to anyone who hears him to decide who’s the “right” enemy…

If your brother, husband, son, or father, had been shot in the back by a police officer, before he had even been accused of committing any crime, who the hell would you consider your “enemy”?

BTW, if you think a heavily armed populace is going to help the situation, take a listen to the Dallas Police Chief. According to him, the minute the shooting started, all those came-wearing, open carry dudes ran in the opposite direction, and it was next to impossible for the officers to initially determine who was a legitimate threat, and who was not. Made their job infinitely more difficult – and probably cost lives as they tried to figure out who was who.

Is any of this your “fault”…? IMHO, senseless killing is – to some degree – the “fault” of everyone who condones killing, especially without just cause. That’s why we have a separate criminal category for “self-defense,” as distinguished from “first degree murder,” “second degree murder,” “manslaughter,” and so on. The law makes these distinctions for a reason; He, Trump doesn’t bother with such trivialities, and neither do his supporters.

In the law, silence is considered acquiescence, and this goes all the way back to Sir Thomas Moore. And that’s why I won’t shut up.

If you have done an honest investigation/research of Trump’s business deals and a some of his personal life and you still believe he is presidential material then……YOU DON”T CARE. I know you are not that dumb to not see it.

Much of the “negative” that has been said about Clinton has not been true.

All this killing, on all sides, is PROMOTED and ENCOURAGED and SUPPORTED by the kind of divisive, hostile, mindless, egocentric, “they’re the enemy” kind of bullcrap that is endlessly vomited by He, Trump, and his supporters – including you, sir.

Where do you think people get the idea that it’s “okay” to just take out someone they don’t like? They get it from listening to people like He, Trump saying, “I’d like to punch him” about a protester at a rally, and following with, “Don’t worry; I’ll take care of your legal bills,” and “In the old days, he’d be taken out on a stretcher.” And the crowd cheers…

Add to this an untrained populace armed to the teeth, and this is what you get. Is there really any difference between a police officer killing a man who’s already pinned on the ground, and somebody sniping at officers protecting a protest march? No – there isn’t. The fact that one shooter is wearing a badge, and the other isn’t, is absolutely irrelevant. And the fact that one victim is a citizen, and the other is an arm of law enforcement, isn’t any different, either. Both cases are unjustifiable, tragic, and criminal.

If you condone the murder of innocent people just because you don’t like the uniform they’re wearing, or the color of their skin, or whom they sleep with, or what you’re afraid someone else “might do,” then that’s what you condone. Period. There are no hairs to split here.

Don’t even try to argue with me on this. Just don’t even bother…

You might, however, be grateful that I don’t believe as you do – and that my primary “weapon” of rage is my keyboard.

He was lucky to get them to agree…cost him big bucks. It seems too many potential speakers he asked had other plans during that time! I see he did not give much thought to his Trump/Pence logo…but we did! I’m looking forward to his next attempt. I think the man is mentally ill.

Mike Pence is not helpful with the women vote. He was eager to shut down the government to defund Planned Parenthood! Just another evangelical fascist who pretends to be a serious person. This election is exhausting and alarming. I am so discouraged that anyone takes Trump seriously. The man is a crude, ignorant self-aggrandizing egomaniac only interested in himself. The upcoming GOP convention will be a joke. Do we really need speeches by his four children and his wife? I am embarrassed for my country.

Gato, if the pervangelists so deeply want Sharia law then they should grab hold of themselves and transfer tot he parts of the world where it is already in play! The fact that they do not do so is proof that if Sharia law were in place here, it would impact everyone but them — the privileged elect.

Yes, we DO! The thought of… He, Trump… is pretty darned scary. And now with Pence? Even more scary.

Saw something today about a Pakistani woman being strangled to death by her brother – HER BROTHER!!! – because she apparently shared soft drinks and cigarettes with some local imam during Ramadan. She was killed; he just didn’t get to do that moon ceremony thing.

This is not very far from some idea apparently of Pence’s that women who have abortions should be required to pay for the burial of fetal tissue. Maybe that got immediately trashed, but the thought that anyone would even think of proposing it is… Scary.

We think Sharia is an abomination “over there,” and yet seem to be moving in that direction here…

Gato, my big thing is the “redlining” of our country in every way definable. It used to be just a bank mortgage/realtor thing but as we get smarter we see this phenomenon all over the place. There is sneaky redlining of who gets jobs and then even narrowing those jobs to the advantage of the fat cats on the board and maybe, incredibly, the stock holders. This gives the recliners the advantage on when to kick the employee to the curb, even if he/she is a fabulous worker. The equal employment laws don’t matter to this bunch. Consequently we have a very uneven distribution of compensation in this country and its getting worse. There is also redlining on the scholarship front. There is a growing demographic of people who are scholastically qualified for scholarships but for some reason they were found to be “too wealthy” by even as much as a penny for tuition assistance for an education that could raise them a notch above such rejection. The only college in the country that really does not consider the middle class “too wealthy” for full ride scholarship is – get this – Harvard! Yes, it has the heaviest load of endowments of any other school, but that does not mean the others get a pass on this issue. Another example of redlining: orders given to Human Resources not to even consider an applicant who shows up wearing a head scarf. This was way before the hijjab thing. This meant the scarves the working class and lower middle class and even some higher middle class women wore on their heads way back when. Hell,the Queen of England is often seen wearing such scarves! Further example: Not only were such scarves taboo but the applicant had to have their own private transportation. Anyone dependent on a bus or subway was not even allowed on the list. And even law firms cannot tolerate more than one bright woman on staff! Heard one lawyer say that to another who was doing some hiring. From then one the male candidates who were often not as bright as the female candidates got the job. Then they wondered why the guy really wasn’t such a find! Does this sound like ancient French aristocracy to you, say like around the end of the 18th century? And its still running loose in this country.

Hi, Mageen –Well, that Allen B. West is certainly an interesting fellow, isn’t he? Wasn’t too familiar with him, so googled him, and went to his website – which led me quickly to one of those endless “Turn-up-the-volume-and-I’m-going-to-reveal-in-just-a-minute” sites about how FEMA is sneakily trying to steal “everybody’s” survival food… (Don’t suppose they’d just be wanting to know what suppliers might be able to contribute in case of a national disaster, or anything like that, would we…?)

I will give West credit for thinking that Biden has a lot of “favorables,” because he certainly does.

How have our politics become such an international freak show? And how can so many of us look at “drug cartel murders” in other countries, and not “see” what’s being done here, over and over again, by some of our police officers? (DISCLAIMER: I KNOW A FEW LOCAL OFFICERS MYSELF, AND THEY ARE EQUALLY APPALLED. So anybody who’s thinking about jumping in here and opening their pie hole about “respecting our law enforcement officials” can just forget about it, right this minute.)

Actually, I’m pretty sure I know the answer to my own question, above. Rip people off enough, make them powerless (can’t vote, can’t get citizenship, can’t get a job, can’t support their families, can’t get a decent education) and you will soon have a society with thousands of angry, uninformed, desperate people. And then make sure they can all get guns… Lots and lots of guns…

Gato and all, just heard that Allen West (former military officer who had to leave the service under a cloud) who ended up in Congress has stated that he is glad the President is campaigning for Hillary against Trump and that Hillary should consider herself that Trump is her opponent. His reasoning? If the President wrote Hillary off as the Dem candidate, he would then pop Joe Biden into that slot. That has a certain fascination to it, but obviously this guy learned nothing in his Congressional time. Exactly how did Allen think this could be done? With fairy dust? Puh-leeze!

Gato, you’re right. I can’t understand the Trump candidacy. What are the Republicans thinking? He’s a bigot, he’s a racist, he’s xenophobic. He says offensive, ridiculous things that no other candidate could get away with. This latest controversy about the ad he appropriated from a white supremicist website is a case in point. His refusal to apologize, or cop to a mistake, shows his complete lack of character or introspection. And saying it’s a “sheriff’s star” is so stupid it defies belief. I hope he loses, and loses big, and that he then fades into oblivion, never to be seen or heard from again.

Hey, Many Terrys/Terris heard from! Couldn’t be better. And all the rest of the loyal porch sitters… (Oh, okay, even those less “loyal” ones are good, too…)

Why the words “Trump” and “candidate” continue to be mentioned in the same sentence is absolutely beyond me. Aren’t we an effing grown-up country??!! if you read our Declaration of Independence, it’s pretty plain that we’re supposed to be – or at least a baby country that has the possibility of eventually behaving like a grownup. I think that’s what our founders had in mind for us…

And, even though all those signatures were written by guys, you know they had ladies sitting at their sides, and I think they probably listened to those ladies – because they weren’t stupid!

Thank you, Terri, for clarifying a lot of what has been brought up in relation to Hillary. I was a Bernie gal but will vote for Hillary. I can’t imagine a worse candidate than Trump. Any Bernie supporter who would vote for him instead of Hillary doesn’t have a clue where he would lead our country. He’s not qualified for anything other than a reality tv show. We deserve better than that.

Bringing to the porch congratulations on the fact that this country, the only one on the planet with an actual birthday in writing, has managed to make it 240 years. That alone I can cheer! In comparison to the rest of the planet with countries that can ascertain their existence hundreds upon hundreds of years ago, we are toddlers! The vast majority of our gifts – intellectually, industrially, scientifically, etc. – have yet to really be divined let alone developed and implemented. I have spent some time this morning reading some very relevant stuff for the Fourth of July, such as Frederick Douglass’s speech about Independence Day Add to that quotations from a bevy of Founding Fathers to which I will add just one more from a Founding Mother, Abigail Adams, “Remember the ladies.” A lot of of what I read I already knew – the Theism of the Founders, for instance, and how even a lot of the last half of the 20th Century Republicans agreed with it when it came to public and persona liberty and where the interests of the state began and ended. I always was and still pretty am confident in not just the better angels that Lincoln referenced but the best angels. Happy Independence day, y’all! Now I am going to search out some pie!

You won’t talk policy . What the hell do you vote for people for if policy means so little ? What clothes and kind of foo-foo they wear?
where they live? what they drive?

How do you square me-first right- Libertarian philosophy with any positive outcome for poor and middle class people? I mean beyond making a an anti- Hillary statement?
You have not vested anything here. No Thing. Just an endless diatribe and name calling and so on.
Little girls , ennit? LOL when does the lemmings-kool-aid-bitches talk start? So useful in discussing directions we’d like to see the country go…
Pffft!!

I’m with you Roz- mostly. Will have to decide whether I vote for President after the convention .
And I don’t want to hear that not voting for Ms Clinton is a vote for Trump, folks. Our vote in Alaska means jack beyond the voting booth. For reals.

Gato, I agree. Bernie’s candidacy has been a boon to the Democrats. He has, and will continue, to pull Hillary to left, which I think is a good thing. He’s done a great job, and he has a lot to be proud of. He didn’t get as many votes as Hillary, but he’s made a huge contribution, and I, for one, am grateful to and for him. And if it matters, I’m sure he’ll be voting for Hillary.

Oh, HTG, Roz – I certainly hope she will. She’s not a doofus, after all, and if there’s ever been a time that Dems of all stripes should feel the need to rally ’round and make sure that Orange Thing never moves into the WH, it’s now.

Bernie knows the system, too, and he’s brought enough progressive power into this campaign that I don’t think the Dem candidate could possibly ignore it. For that I am grateful.

Czech–condescending much? “Girls”? I’m older than you. Nobody is saying Hillary is perfect, but then who is? An election is a choice. This year it’s a choice between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Some of use choose to vote for the most qualified candidate. Her gender is not the reason, but it is (and will be) a refreshing difference. No need to get huffy with the rest of us.

I’m a disappointed Bernie supporter but will be a Hillary voter come November. Facts are facts, Hillary received more votes. I don’t think much of her or her family…they appear to favor business as usual and to be in politics mostly for for the power/$$$$. But, I also think that the media hasn’t been even handed in its coverage of her…she has a strong history of serving her country.
So, even though I won’t be a enthusiastic Hillary voter, the difference between the Democrats and the Rethuglicans is clear enough to me to mandate a vote for the Democratic candidate… at local and national levels.
If Hillary can find her way to sincerely support and lead a more progressive platform/party, she can still become the inspiring candidate that many of us wish would lead a (hopefully) more inclusive Democratic Party.
Bottom line, my hope is that the party will move to include the will of the Democratic voters that came out for Bernie and his campaign platform. It would be foolish and ignorant to ignore those voters.
Will Hillary will support this progressive shift in her words and actions? If so, she will be able to unite all Democrats as candidate and president. If not, she will actualize our worst fears about her, the Democratic Party and our political system.

Oh, gatodicima, so eloquent. (You wanted to hear that, right?) And alaskapi, you’re such a policy wonk. (You wanted to hear that, right?) Nice to have met you, girls–and that’s precisely what you are, naive little girls who happen to be old enough to vote. I hope we meet again under different circumstances.

chick- you haven’t ventured much here except to spit about Ms Clinton’s personality.

You have not addressed Terri from NY’s points about her being a well respected US Senator for her constituents nor mine about her not being a one termer or flash in the pan like our stoopid gone-Gov SP here in Alaska.

You have not addressed her work in multiple areas from a policy standpoint .

You did not address my contention that Mr and Ms Clinton and Mr Obama self- identify with the same philosophical political school of thought.
I grew to be quite upset with Mr Clinton’s Presidency- him signing the Gramm- Leach-Bliley Act opened the doors for some of the worst crap to come down the pike in a long while.
As much as I appreciate Mr Obama, the TPP is bad news and he’s pushed it for a long time.

As for saying Gary Johnson looks good about now- go for it. Like I said, I don’t care who you vote for but it sure makes you look uninterested in actual policy.. Do you even follow right-Libertarian thought?
Talk about not give a damn about poor and middle class people… whew!

I am really tired of centrist politics- there is just enough there to keep it looking sorta ok and some better than the opposition but not enough to have held back the huge growth of income inequality under the flag of centrist and neoliberal economic policies and thought.
And folks who totally abandon the poor in favor of total market forces-? oh sure, goodo.
And they even insist their whole dealie is non-coercive and fair. Heck dead poor people solve the problem, ennit?

Hold on a second there, Chick… Nobody has “accused” you of anything. I just said I had to look at my own sexism, not yours. And, no, I wouldn’t add any of those other epithets because nothing you have said would lead me to do so.

And I will not be voting for Secretary Clinton because she and I share similar chromosomes. I am voting for her because she is, by far, the more qualified candidate in this election. Period.

As for “elevating” her to something no one could ever be…? I “elevate” her to the position only of being the better candidate in this election – and this is something many people have been, not something “no one could ever be.”

If you choose to don the cloak of martyrdom and epithets, that is your choice. No one else has thrown it on you; you, yourself, have picked it up and put it on.

OK, now I’m sexist. Go for it. Have a party. Whatever you think, whatever you want to read into my words. Hey, why not call me racist while you’re at it? And you forgot homophobe, conservative, reactionary, and a hundred other epithets. Load ’em on. I’ll wear them as a badge of honor, having been awarded by such one-track-minded Hillary “supporters” (although “fanatics” is a better choice of words–you’d vote for her if she were found guilty of treason because she’s a woman).You’re equally sexist for supporting a candidate for no reason other than she has the same XY conformation you do. Come on, admit it, you are. You’ve elevated her, in your minds, to something she couldn’t possibly be–something no one, male or female, could ever be. Vote and enjoy the consequences, kids.

Excellent post, Terri – Ya know, if Hill were a dude there would not be ONE WORD about how she hypothetically “feels.” Does anyone ever utter a single sentence about Newt’s “feelings” when he dumped one wife for another, or how Denny Hastert “felt” that led him to sexually abuse young boys? No; I didn’t think so.

As for her being avaricious, or “pushy,” or wanting money, or “trying to get ahead”… In a man, all these things are considered admirable qualities, not liabilities. And self-centered…? Is there ANYONE who embodies this to a more pathological degree than He, Trump?

She empowers women by her sheer endurance, her dedication to task, her unconcealed ambition, and her goddam fortitude to keep on keeping on whatever crap is slung at her. (In this, she is like Obama.)

I had to take a serious look at my own sexism (and, trust me, I’m no Goody Two-Shoes) here. I didn’t “like” her, either, a while ago, but – dammit – there are plenty of things I’ve felt compelled to do over the last year and a half, as executor of my brother’s and sister-in-law’s estates, for which people sometimes didn’t “like” me. But they were the right things to do, so I did them, because I could, and gave not one s**t whether or not anyone “liked” my decisions. After seventy-some years of being “nice,” there comes a time when that no longer matters.

The woman is going to get my vote because she’s the pantsuit-wearing lioness whose Presidency will inspire all women just as Obama’s has inspired all African Americans.

That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it… ESPECIALLY when you consider the abominable alternative!!

Hey, Chick – Where does this idea about a woman getting a “payback” for sticking with a philandering husband come from…? It’s not just you; it’s a common theme, and I think it’s sexist to the core. We know NOTHING about their marriage, their relationship, or any other facet of their personal lives. How they managed to get through the Monica hysteria is their business, and theirs alone. What you happen to think a “strong woman” would do is, excuse me, totally irrelevant.

I thought Hillary was wacko, years ago, when she suggested that there was “a vast right-wing conspiracy” working against her and Prez Clinton. Doesn’t seem quite so off the wall these days, does it…? Now, thanks to Citizens United, that bunch has the freedom to spend all the cash it wants, with zero disclosure, and is working ceaselessly to buy politicians who will gerrymander, disenfranchise, try to overthrow legal abortion, demand birth certificates to use a pubic bathroom, take over school curricula, overrun health care, bust unions, deport illegals, shut down immigration, eliminate regulation from financial institutions, make sure any nut can get his/her hands on as many guns and as much ammo as he or she wants, and on and on and on…

The “scandals” of the Clintons are nothing compared to some of the behavior of any number of other politicians, most of them male, and plenty of them in the GOP. “WMD”s, aluminum tubes, pedophilia, photos of barely concealed “weiners” on the internet, divorces, philandering, infidelities, multiple marriages, payoffs, graft, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera… To say NOTHING of the continuous lies that drool out of the mouth of the Cheeto Jesus every single day, hour after hour.

Czech. I see you feel strongly about Hillary Clinton. I am puzzled as to how you can claim to know how she” feels” about anything. Underpaid and under appreciated? I’m not sure where that claim comes from. Unless you have proof otherwise, I assume she earned the position of Secretary of State. The Clintons left the White House with very little, and I do not begrudge them the chance to make money when they left office, as almost all ex-presidents do. I respect your feelings, but I do wish you would check your personal animus and re-look at her record with a more objective perspective. Peace.

The problem is that Sanders can’t win the nomination and could only run as an Independent if I’m right. So, if it’s between Clinton and Trump our only reasonable choice is Clinton. Voting for Trump to snub Clinton is just foolish to say the least as is not voting at all. We have to make the best of the situation and Trump is the worst possible option.

Terri, she followed her husband. That’s it. End of story. It’s no secret that she felt they were underappreciated and underpaid in public life, so she set out to correct that when he left the White House. The difference between her and Bernie is that Bernie truly cares about the poor and middle classes; she does not (unless she’s stealing Bernie’s rhetoric). She is interested in Hillary Clinton and her place in history. How did she earn that Secretary of State post exactly? Come on. It was a consolation prize to get her to support Obama (as has been done historically). And I don’t like her and don’t trust her, but my vote (or non-vote) is based on fact, not feeling. It’s the only rational way to decide on something this important. I’m 57 years old and tired of settling for the least bad candidate, who happens to be her this go-round. I respect your opinion and your vote for her. But I think you’ll regret it. For at least four years. And Trump isn’t the Republican nominee yet. The Republicans are pretty good at dirty tricks, and I think they may very well oust him at the convention. At least, I hope so.

Czech. We get it. You don’t like Hillary. It seems the reasons are not based in fact but instead on feeling. Hillary and Bernie voted the same 93% of the time they were in the Senate. As a resident of NY state, I can tell you she won because she visited every county in the state, and worked hard to learn what her constituents think and need. She was a good senator, and in fact she was more productive than Bernie Sanders. She was appointed Secretary of State because she earned it, not because Bill made a deal. If she was as greedy and avaricious as you claim she would not have gone into public service after graduating law school. She could easily have gone to Wall St. and made a fortune. Instead she worked for the Children’s Defense Fund, not exactly a place you would choose if you wanted to enrich yourself. She’s smart, competent, and tough. And of course she has done charitable work–the entire Clinton Foundation is a charity that has done great work on AIDS in Africa.

Eleanor Roosevelt was a great woman, but she was an exception. Franklin was a quadriplegic and could not travel easily. And he didn’t always take her advice, no matter how much she nagged him (see “No Ordinary Time” by Doris Kearns Goodwin, among others). He was his own man, as Bill was and is. I’m not blaming Hillary for Bill’s actions; I think he was a great president. (Please read carefully, people). And Bernie is half-hearted, sort-of endorsing Hillary because he knows she’s a mediocre candidate and would be a mediocre president (and I daresay he knows a lot more about her than we do). He’s doing it for the sake of form. And please point out where I endorsed Trump or said I’d vote for him. Please, people, I appreciate your opinions, but reading comprehension is important. Continued change, like that we had under Obama, even under the opposition he had to face, is what we need, and we won’t get it with Hillary. Don’t be liberals who settle (again) for the least noxious choice. Get moving and do something for your country.

More ad hominem crap, chick.
And it is off topic to want to discuss actaul politics in a political racr? jeez- who knew?
Personally, unlike many who visit here, I don’t give a damn who you vote for- go vote for the Libertarian, Mr Johnson if you desire, vote for Mr Trump. Do the classic Mickey-Mouse or Donald -Duck write in routine. I don’t care.

No way do I want to go the the right wing libertarian crapola about every (hu)man is an island and we would all behave if market forces were the only law… sure thing. you betcha…
——————————-
” If you’re OK with being an uninformed voter blindly supporting a candidate, go for it. It’s your conscience.”

You do not read carefully nor with discernment do you ? I might hold my nose and vote for Ms Clinton, I may not vote for President. I have not decided.
I do not support Ms Clinton blindly or in any way.
I do expect folks to be more honest about the POLITICAL reasons they do not support a candidate than emotional reasons. I want single payer healthcare, paid maternity leave and other policies which support families- truly support them and any number of other pi-in-the-sky stuff- because , well, really, money means anything we decide it means since we made it up…
Money is to serve humanity as a set of tools not the other way round…

Ahem! I am about to give away just how old I am. I can vividly remember how much Eleanor Roosevelt was trashed in her time. It was the same stuff from people of ill will as Hillary is getting now. No one in that era accused Eleanor of enabling her husband’s roving eye. They knew better. If ever there was a First Lady who really put all her energy into this country it was Eleanor. She was everywhere during her husband’s administration, doing all the things he couldn’t do and reporting back to him on the true conditions of coal miners, farmers, steel workers, sweatshops, shoddy education (yes, it was just as bad back then as it apparently is now) and ended up as our rep at the United Nations where she helped to whip up the Rights of Man. But there are still people of poisoned soul who foam at the mouth when her name is mentioned or anyone else pops up that might be her spiritual kin. There! Now I am going to have some pie! I mean it!

CzechChick, condemning the country to the horror of a Trump administration is something Bernie Sanders would not do. Why would you? Unless you never supported Bernie. That’s the hyperbole I’m using – and standing behind. Bernie supporters are out there working to support down-ticket Democrats to help keep the more centrist Hillary honest. Why aren’t you? Electing Trump (or voting Libertarian or Green) won’t do anything to help our country. You aren’t even talking the Bernie talk, much less walking the walk.

Oh, so now not voting for ANY Democratic candidate makes one a Trump troll and one who could NEVER have been as Sanders supporter. (I still support Bernie.) Please. What hyperbole. Disagreement goes straight to hate instead of debate. Gary Johnson is looking pretty good right now, especially compared to either mainstream candidate.

alaskapi–more hyperbole. You see ad hominem (and some of what I wrote is indeed ad hominem, but not all or even most), I see a candidate’s deficiencies. Clinton has a lot of shadiness in her past. All the crap that was/is thrown at her at the Clintons (and I voted for Bill twice and think he was a very good president) wasn’t true, but some was. And there was/is a lot of stuff that may not be illegal, but is shady and ethically questionable about their post-officeholding behavior that is as well. Pull your head out of the sand and read/watch something that’s not MSM. Do your research. I’m not talking about emails (although if she’d been any other State Department employee she’d have been fired) or Whitewater. I’m talking about what made them multimillionaires.

Keep the conversation on your terms, on what you want to talk about, instead of what’s true. Keep frothing about ad hominem attacks and centrism and “Oh, I’m not defending Hillary.’ If you’re OK with being an uninformed voter blindly supporting a candidate, go for it. It’s your conscience.

And I close with alaskapi’s famous dismissal–pfft. (WTF is that about? How old are you really?) See ya.

chick- what a loada.
I’m not defending Ms Clinton- I’m pushing back at your multiple ad hominem attacks on her.
I see nothing in your comments here which is substantive- just frothing and emotional gobbeldy-gook.
Does nothing for me as a Sanders supporter and does nothing to shift the conversation to the splits between Democratic socialist ideals vs centrist/Third Way / New Democrat ideals which is where the conversation should be in my mind.
Mr Obama is a New Democrat/ centrist/ Third Way adherent along with both Clintons. He’s done a decent job so you are some shaky ground saying Ms Clinton would take us back somewhere or other given the basic similarities in their political views.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Democrats
And I’m bringing up Whitewater because I’m pushing back at the crap circulating out there which sounds like a redux of that BS.
Watergate was a different critter altogether and using it as a bogeyman is BS. If there is anything nefarious in the email dealie it won’t be the same as a sitting President knowingly concealing a crime performed to advance his election.
I’m with Stellans- you don’t sound like a Sanders supporter.
I have thus far rejected the notion that there are any Bernie supporters who have real common ground with Trump supporters but I’m having to readjust that view here. If you’re not a concern troll, what gains for a Democratic Socialist POV are you espousing? None that I can see- just endless angry, hateful ad hominem attacks on Ms Clinton.
Really useful… Pfft.

I always wonder when I read a diatribe like yours, CzechChick, if you really are a Bernie fan, or you’re merely a Trump Troll. Because nobody who truly espouses Bernie’s ideas and policies could ever even entertain the idea of helping to elect anyone else but the Democratic candidate. It’s not Bernie, and I think that is a loss for the country. But even Bernie has publicly acknowledged he will vote for Hillary. If you like Bernie so much, why don’t you listen to him now?

A vote for anyone else but the Democratic candidate is a vote for Trump. Period. If you think otherwise, then you never truly supported Bernie.

And I call BS on you, alaskapi. Look, you believe in the great right-wing conspiracy if you want to, and that all the “scandals” were manufactured. (I said nothing about Whitewater, BTW, just Watergate.) Ignore the investigative journalism done by responsible journalists that document the kind of person she is–cold, calculating, compassionless, avaricious, egotistical–and the kind of things she’s done–anything for a buck. And your comparison of Clinton and Obama is a false equivalency. She laughed heartily when Madeline Albright talked about there being a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women. Have you ever heard about Hillary boosting another woman? Making charitable contributions? No, you haven’t. Because she hasn’t. It’s all about her, all the time. This is her payback for putting up with Bill for all those years. And if she were such a strong woman why did she not leave him? Because she knew she couldn’t make it on her own. She knew that he was her ticket to where she is now.

If Elizabeth Warren or Bernie or pretty much anyone else were the Democratic nominee, I’d be voting for them. They’re not. Bill managed to buy the nomination for her this time. I cannot, in good conscience, vote for her. Hopefully the convention will be an old-fashioned one and she’ll get the boot, but I doubt it. Foe whom will I vote? I really, really don’t know. I don”t.

You think she was a great senator? You think she was a great secretary of state? Well, go ahead, Good for you. It’s your right. I’ll believe facts and not cast a vote for Ms. Clinton this fall. Agree to disagree, OK?

chick-
I call BS again.
Ms Clinton won 2 elections. She served as a US Senator for 9 years. You gonna play the same damn game people did about Mr Obama ?
Those who ignored his 7 years as a State Senator before serving 4 years as a US Senator? The ones who liked to pretend he was nothing but a community organizer? Ennit?
You gonna pretend her SoS position was a placeholder spot only? And Mr Obama gave her that place , why?? Go read about it- she did pretty well.
Give Ms Clinton her due. She’s got the chops.
I DO NOT LIKE THE WOMAN’S POLITICS but you are wrong with your storyline as to how and what she is as a person or a politician.

I have been waiting for a Democratic Socialist to run for over 40 years and am so damn glad Mr Sanders has. I’m still sending money to help get the Bernie delegates to the convention and all.

One of the proudest moments of my voting life was to stand for Mr Sanders in caucus . It has been so damn long since I got to vote/stand for someone I truly believe in.
Even so, I am an old mixed race woman who is sick of BS like yours. It does not forward anything to make crap up.
And Whitewater? What a load of Republican obstructionist horseshit that was. Those asshats owe us all $39.2 million dollarsto pay back what they squandered. Period. You wanna play that stoopid game again?
Pffft.

No hate. I want to see a decent candidate elected because I don’t want to see everything Obama’s accomplished under such opposition and pressure undone. So she won one election. BFD. And she was first lady? So what? Her husband was president, not she. Maybe she influenced him and maybe she didn’t, but in either case she had no responsibility for any decisions. She was a senator who voted us into war and a placeholder secretary of state. And there’s her record.

Think sexism runs deep? Not as deep as racism, and that’s been made very plain over the last 8 years. She’s not going to be Jackie Robinson. And if you think we had no progress under Obama, just think of the nightmare of investigations and prosecutions that will be the course of a Clinton presidency. Watergate? It’ll have been a cakewalk in comparison.

Hate whom you please and/or think whomever you please hates. I want to take our country forward, not back. Sanders will do that. Clinton sure won’t.

This is good to know and hopefully more Americans will wake up and smell the dung that Trump is dishing out. The only fun in this is watching the Republicans trying to save face. Maybe if they had worked with Obama and the Democrats they wouldn’t be in this bind. It’s called compromise which if my Latin serves me probably means “with” (com) and “promise”. That’s what compromise means to me – it comes with a promise that both sides will win in some sense. Just saying “NO” means we all lose.

Well done, Pi ! Glad someone can handle facts and numbers better than I can. Appreciate the post… Now let’s go and enjoy the weekend. (Wish I were prouder of my country than I am at this moment, but our ideals are good, and always have been. We just have to remember what they are…)

Jeez chick hate much?
I don’t like Ms Clinton’s politics but most of what you said is horseshit and I am a proud BernieBot ( 😛 crypto )
She did not have the NY seat handed to her- she won with over 80% of the primary vote and over 55% in the general in 2000, over 93% in the primary and 67% in the general in 2006- that’s a damn fine showing, like her or not, her constituents did/do.
You wanna get snarky, go after centrist ideas, not the woman.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrism

Hey, Chick – and I’m going to assume you actually ARE a “chick” – Now, wait a second here… “…avaricious, self-interested, duplicitous mediocrity of a human being…”?? That certainly sounds to me more like the Cheeto Jesus than it does like Hillary Clinton. (And describing He, Trump a “mediocrity” is, IMHO, pretty much a compliment.)

She’s had NOTHING “handed to her,” as far as I know. And everything she’s won, she’s won despite her husband, not because of him. She has faced more criticism, more scrutiny, and endured more bad-mouthing, than anyone with a penis would ever have to face. And she has endured – and apparently learned from her mistakes, her missteps, and been given next to no credit for her successes. She doesn’t have a to prove she’s tough; she IS tough – and for that she is endlessly excoriated. And she soldiers on. For that she has my respect, and will have my vote.

How many candidates for President have ever sought this position with a history of being First Spouse, an appointed Secretary of State, AND an elected Senator, in the history of this country? Were she a man, nobody would be thinking twice about her qualifications for the job. She would be the obvious choice, without question. For thinking people, she still should be.

Sexism runs deep in this country, as does racism; we should never forget that. If our sexism allows us to equate a pathological sideshow huckster narcissist with a “pushy” woman, and consider them therefore equal, we are indeed screwed.

Dear twocrows1023–this is one case in which the Republicans were right. Do some research. Although Bill may have been screwing anything that moved, Hillary was doing the real dirty work. She is an avaricious, self-interested, duplicitous mediocrity of a human being. What did she ever, ever in her life, accomplish on her own? She was first lady because of Bill. She got the Senate handed to her. She (or, rather, Bill) cut a deal for her to be secretary of state. She’s won ONE election in her life. I cannot, in good conscience, vote for her. If that makes me a BernieBot, cryptoclearance, so be it. In the long run, who would be the worse president? I really don’t know. He’s stupid and she’s greedy, and either will have us in a war withing 6 months–he because he knows nothing, she to prove she’s “tough.” Whomever you vote for between those two, it’s going to be a disaster.

I am a Bernie supporter but I will vote for the Democratic nominee. I hope both candidates will support each other’s views and work together to defeat the idiot Trump. Very creepy that the idiot Trump and the idiot Palin are in CO campaigning together this weekend. Talk about birds of a feather !!!!

If Democrats don’t vote, again, then we will get what we deserve. We lost both the House and Senate majorities during election years when Dems sat out the vote. The idiot Trump will undo any good that has ever been done for this country throughout history. He is not a politician, he is a school yard bully whose only response is to scream insults at anyone who disagrees with him. Our country can not afford this ignorant, racist, hate monger to become the next president. No woman, no ethnic, no LGBT ( BTW, what’s wrong with you Caitlin Jenner ?) no veteran, no one in the bottom 99% should even consider voting for this creature.

Democrats have to put their differences aside to keep this lunatic from winning.

Perhaps you should leave your comments about the British vote to leave the European community to the British who remember when we had sovereignty and made our own decisions about what we import and from whom and just how many immigrants we allow
Instead of being dictated to by Brussels. Would you want Canada to dictate to you?
We certainly do not wish to be compared in the same sentence with Herr Drumpf “the Donald!”

Hi, Pi, and all – Mercifully, my husband isn’t really very “political,” so I think he talks “Libertarian” solely to have some contribution to make to any discussion of the general topic…

Saw something this morning that He, Trump says he doesn’t really “need” money or campaign ads – never mind that he’s now asking for money all over the place – that he just needs to have “events” and people show up. And, suddenly, it all made perfect sense to me.

Of course he doesn’t feel he “needs” any of that other stuff, because he doesn’t really give a dang about actually winning or being President. All he wants to do is stand behind a podium, say whatever he feels like saying at the moment, have lots of people cheer and applaud, and generate relentless media coverage. It’s like live TV… RATINGS!! Show biz. Carnival sideshow. Snake oil. NOTHING whatsoever to do with “Making America Great Again.”

I’m betting that most of the people who come to his “events” don’t care much about governing, either; they already feel it has nothing to do with them. But a free show? Maybe with some punching around? Sure! Can’t beat it.

Very few of his supporters can likely afford to set foot in any one of his “towers,” resorts, or golf clubs, but they sure can get to an arena, see “The Donald” Himself, and yell and holler to their hearts content… He knows what they want, and he gives it to them.

I continue to think that the chances of He, Trump’s actually being on the ballot are slim, indeed. The GOP doesn’t want him, and he doesn’t really want any of them, either. The convention should be really interesting… Couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch.

Interesting group of comments here- even more so than usual.
Some issues :

“You can dismiss Trump himself but you need to recognize the similarities between all the people who are supporting Brexit, Trump, and Sanders.”–
– ehh. No. Not all the people.
I’m a Democratic Socialist of 40 plus years- nothing about Brexit or Mr Trump makes sense to me. I’ve just enjoyed having Mr Sanders out there encouraging folks to vote for things which mean a great deal to me.
————————————————————————————–

“Regarding people who are “angry with the system.” I contend they are angry with the Republican Party and the Republicans in Congress….”- eh , no. Maybe, probably some but certainly not all.
I am quite angry -with-the-system- the system which everyday Americans themselves helped create, with very little thought along the way. A whole lot of voters need to slap their own damn hands for helping make this mess.
And the piece of “the system” I’m most pissed about is the neoliberal economic BS we have swallowed since Reagan and the first Clinton and still are…
—————————————————————————————-

“I honestly don’t understand Bern supporters who think that voting for Trump makes sense. Bern is a class act, sincere, consistent and knows his stuff. Trump is classless, self-centered, self-serving, uneducated about the world issues and is dangerous to our way of life.” — Amen and hallelujah!

I don’t agree with Ms Clinton’s politics, I am sick unto perdition of centrist ideas and could spend a week saying why I think they stink.
The ONLY thing I do like about Ms Clinton is her toughness but that’s probably like folks who liked the Lil Bush cuz he seemed down to Earth (OMG- were they ever wrong!)
Will probably vote for her, Will never vote for Mr Trump. Never.

Gato – please tell your hubby that RIGHT Libertarian thought ( which is what the Libertarian Party is) is wildly problematic if looked at carefully.

Thanks Helen! You have been missed. These are interesting times indeed. People seem to be losing the ability to really think things through. Brexit should not have happened. Whether we want it or not, isolationism is not going to work for Britain, it will not work for us. A Trump presidency is really scaring me We need steady hands at the helm, we need maturity of the highest order. A petulant child won’t do. I hope we think it through before we cast our votes this November.

I really liked Bernie’s ideas. I did not know how we were going to pay for most of them but his heart was in the right place. Free education and free healthcare for all? What is not to like? Had he won the nomination, I would have voted for him even though I am a Hillary supporter. I also know he would have had a worse time dealing with congress than President Obama did. But give me Bernie any day over Trump.

Cheez all biscuits! A Republican, Rubio, said it best in the first debate. If all anyone is looking for is the perfect resume for the job it would be Hillary! She knows everyone worth knowing all around the globe. She is a hard, hard worker and at times I wonder if she ever sleeps! She ain’t no sissy girl with pink ribbons in her hair and ruffles on her socks! She has two brothers and she had to contend with them and win! Cage fighter, that’s her! Trump is a very, very vivid nightmare of all that is worst in humanity!

Thank you, Helen. When my son-in-law comes in with his tremendous arguments about the State of the Nation, and with Trump as the answer, I get mentally beaten down. I’m sending This on to him…as a most elegant ‘simple..and simply true’ rebuttal. My thanks, Shirley

The whole “lying Hillary” thing was cooked up many years ago by William Safire, conservative Republic muckraker . It was all off the top of his head and not validated by ANY evidence…but the big lie keeps getting repeated. Hillary is not perfect, but she’s tough, educated, EXPERIENCED and capable. Whatever his peccadillos, Bill C. left office with this county in good shape, with a surplus, and at (relative) peace (yeah, I know, Bosnia, etc.). The Shrub threw all that away on a pointless war entered into on a deceitful basis (WMD anyone?) to “avenge” his daddy’s failure. And you know – Drumpf makes Dubya look not so bad. My mom lived in Canada as a child (UK immigrant). I guess that’s an alternative if Herr Drumpf gets in.

Gato and twocrows: You are both so right. There have been so many lies and innuendos told about Hillary Clinton for so many years that they have contaminated her image. So many people call her dishonest, or say they just have a bad “feeling” about her, but they can never pin down the source of those feelings or point to specific issues. The woman is competent and tough, she doesn’t need to be Mother Teresa. And the alternative is horrendous.

Hi, Crows – Agree, agree, agree… Saying that Clinton and Triump are somehow “equally bad” is like saying that a mild concussion and decapitation are “equally bad.” NOT!!! Or, in a more relevant context, asserting that “failure to reach a bilateral consensus” is caused equally by the Dems and the GOP…

Hillary may not be “perfect,” but she is certainly not a pathological narcissist, an overt racist xenophobe, totally ignorant of world affairs, economics, incapable of carrying on an adult conversation or treating others with some semblance of courtesy and respect. He, Trump’s language does not express his ability to “tell it like it is.” It expresses his essential ignorance, egomania, fearfulness, and dangerous love of bullying on every level and in every possible instance. The man couldn’t “pivot” if he were standing in the center of a turntable – it’s just not going to happen.

Putting this country in the hands of the He, Trump makes as much sense as handing your car keys to a drunk, confident that he’ll suddenly get sober when he turns on the ignition… People do it, and it doesn’t turn out well.

To Czechchick: Just a suggestion. Please look up just who has been spreading tales that Hillary is a crooked hack for the last QUARTER CENTURY. That would be the Republicans.

Goebbels said it best, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” The Republicans have taken that maxim to heart and many Democrats have fallen for it.

And, jfwiw, I was a Bernie supporter right up until HE DIDN’T GET THE VOTES TO WIN THE NOMINATION. But I will not fall for the Big Lie. Trump and Clinton are not the same. They are not 2 sides of the same coin. I fervently hope we do not learn, first hand, just how true that statement is.

Reblogged this on Central Oregon Coast NOW and commented:
Favorite bloggers “Margaret & Helen” are at it again, saying “I wish I had something funny to write. I really do. But this isn’t funny anymore. I mean it. Really.”

Hello, Chick – No matter how visionary Bernie may be (and, hey, I grew up in the sixties, so I’m plenty sympathetic with his positions), he STILL has to know how to make those visions into a functioning reality – and that means dealing with Congress, fifty diverse states, and a rapidly evolving national demographic.

IMHO, Obama is plenty “visionary,” too, and has had to fight tooth and nail (being “bipartisan” all the while) to get accomplished what he has. And, BTW, if you really look at the last bunch of years, he’s accomplished A LOT.

No, I don’t think we can agree or find common ground on the Democratic nominee. We have one who is a visionary, cares about people (particularly the poor and middle class), and has fresh ideas. The other is a mediocre, crooked hack whose only interest is herself. We could make history by electing a democratic socialist but, as usual, the other people who have their heads up their asses will settle for the same old thing in a different package. We’re screwed whether Trump wins or Clinton does.

Margaret and Helen, what a treat! Once again you have nailed it. I am Canadian, but that doesn’t make me immune to the anxiety that Trump is causing. And Brexit! People, you can run but you can’t hide. As the song goes, “It’s a small world after all!”

You’re right, it isn’t funny. It reminds me of a line from that old radio show “Fibber McGee & Molly”; “tain’t funny, McGee!” I was really young so I don’t remember much else except that there was a closet that was always over-stuffed, much like Trump’s ego. When someone opened the closet door you could hear all kinds of stuff hitting the floor. I think what we would hear if Trump’s elected would be the sound of sh*t hitting the fan. And it would be heard round the world. Why anyone would think he can solve anything other than which woman he will marry next is a mystery to me. He has no serious plans for fixing anything. The only humor I see in this is watching the Republicans trying to save face. Maybe if they had worked with Obama instead of just saying “NO” to everything they might not have so many disgruntled party members and they’d have a real grown-up for a candidate instead of an overgrown toddler throwing temper tantrums right and left.

Yes, Terri – The corruption of “the system” is 90% one-sided, and it’s literally that elephant in the room. I am so damned sick of people blabbing about “both sides of the aisle”… BULL DOODY! IT’S THE REPUBLICANS!!! Not even thinking Republicans want to be Republicans any more.

Hi, Kristin – I doubt that Bernie will be an option. I, too, was not crazy about yet “another Clinton” in the WH, but I do think that Hillary’s experience in the system, however corrupt that system is, will be an asset, not a detriment – especially with constant pressure from the populace to make changes. This whole structure will not be brought down by any cataclysmic “revolution,” but only by consistent and determined modification from within.

We’ve heard from friends in the UK who have expressed that many of those discontents who put “Brexit” over the top are now wondering what exactly the hell they’ve done…

My husband, a life-long Republican, will not vote for The Cheeto Jesus – which is a good thing. Unfortunately, he doesn’t want to vote for Clinton, either, and is making noises about voting Libertarian. I keep telling him that doing so is effectively a vote for He, Trump, but he’s not yet convinced. I have a few months left to work on him…

I STILL think that the Apricot Messiah doesn’t really want to be POTUS at all, and will figure out some way to not be on the ballot. He’ll manage to find some way to be treated “so unfairly” that he drops out in an indignant fury, or will get himself embroiled in something so illegal that he will be thrown out. Soliciting foreign campaign money is a nice start on that second “plan,” BTW…

Regarding people who are “angry with the system.” I contend they are angry with the Republican Party and the Republicans in Congress. They are the people who became the party of “no” when we elected our first black president. They have obstructed, stonewalled and refused to do to anything to improve our country. In the face of the worst financial downturn since the Great Depression, their only response was to do nothing, nothing at all. No American Jobs Act, no compromise, no gun control, no infrastructure improvement, no healthcare, no judicial appointments, nothing. I am completely disgusted by them and their current presidential candidate. They all need to be voted out of office for the good of our country.

Never fear: I’m with Hillary Clinton and have been since the whole shebang (bad word choice) started. Trump makes me wanna barf. Although I’m The Queen of Grammar, I can’t choose between farther and further. Farther is for distance. I choose farther because of distance up the ass.

I love your blog.
I have some suggestions as to connecting dots on illegal immigration vs employing illegal immigrants. Who should be penalized?
Immigration of jobs and national love affair with cheap Walmart stuff. Have a cake and eat it too?
Subject no dem or rep is rasing why SS surplus we have now is wasted away instead of being invested for times when there will be less layers than recipients.

It is stunning the range and sheer number of individuals supporting Trump, and, to be focused the rightwingnut, bible humpers running for various public offices. They DO have a Plan, and that is to deny Women’s Rights, and those of the LGBTQ Communities, minorities and immigrants. Whilst a Bernie supporter, I have made peace on that and will vote for Clinton, holding my nose with my left hand.

I can’t believe I”m agreeing with the CEO of Blackrock, but…he made some salient points. Sometimes the bad guys are actually correct. in any case, the evidence is piling up that Trump is dangerous, both to national security and to the American economy, but his supporters DON’T CARE. Like him, facts don’t matter. Their feelings of disenfranchisement *trump* the facts. Despite being infinitely preferable to Trump, Clinton is a piss poor choice to address the root causes of Trump and Bernie supporters concerning economic issues. Wall Street will be just as corrupting an influence on the WH and Congress in a Clinton presidency as it is now. There is no visible, tangible force that has a chance of reversing the 30+ year redistribution of wealth upward and the disemboweling of the middle class; not as long as Citizens United remains the law of the land and there is no REAL campaign finance reform. Hillary my be the Democrat’s last chance at recapturing the hearts and minds of the disenfranchised. Once the glamour and self-satisfaction of electing the first female American President wears off, folks still have to pay for increasing rents, expensive health care, rising tuition, with diminishing real wages. Don’t wait too long, Democrats, seize the day…or the next election just may be brutal.

So so correct. But then adolf hitler trump has never been funny. He is a sociopath, a pathological lier who is only out for himself. Rarely has a more disgusting human (if he can be called that) been in a public venue. Really, he should spend the remainder of his loser life in a SHU where he cannot harm anyone else. For those who don’t know a SHU is a Secure Housing Unit where inmates are kept in isolation 23 hrs per diem. No human contact, no cable, nothing but time to reflect.

While Hillary has a lot of baggage, she is the best option out there. I am a Bernie supporter, but I still have a sense of reality. Orange Donald is a disaster that even his own party doesn’t know what to do about. The Brits have made a statement, but don’t seem to know what to do next other than carry on.

You can dismiss Trump himself but you need to recognize the similarities between all the people who are supporting Brexit, Trump, and Sanders. These are people who have had it with the current system and know they are being screwed by the system which makes the rich richer on the backs of the rest of us and is undermining the middle class everywhere. The only one with a viable way out of this mess is Bernie Sanders, not Hillary Clinton.

Thus is very intelligent thinking,mic I’m any judge! I hate to say it, but it makes me wonder if it’s written by a little old lady. If so, she should have had a career in the state department — or have been president!

I honestly don’t understand Bern supporters who think that voting for Trump makes sense. Bern is a class act, sincere, consistent and knows his stuff. Trump is classless, self-centered, self-serving, uneducated about the world issues and is dangerous to our way of life.

Though I am a Bernie Sanders supporter, and still believe he would make a better president, I am neither deluded nor stubborn enough to believe the nation (not to mention the entire world) would benefit from a Trump presidency. All the apocalyptic movies ever made could not successfully illustrate the effect of such a man upon the world. He scares me silly, and we must do anything to avoid putting him in a position of power. That short-fingered vulgarian. That Cheetos Jesus. That Drumpf.

People might want to watch replays of former CIA Director Michael Hayden and Blackrock CEO Larry Fink on CBS Good Morning today’s (June 30) show to get two crisp definitive reasons why Trump’s is so harmful. Hayden said in “this lane” Trump is elevating terrorism success by his rhetoric after Orlando and comments on waterboarding. He added in “this lane” Clinton is not only better than Trump, she is better than the President. When asked about other feelings about Trump’s positions, he noted in the parts of the CIA he talks with, they fear a Trump presidency.

Fink was asked to comment on Brexit and he noted that it was a sad day for the UK and global economy. He was also asked about Trump’s comments on trade, which were vilified in the Wall Street Journal and by the US Chamber of Commerce. He noted that we are the largest importer and exporter of goods, so we rely on trade. Yes, there are some who have not seen wage increases and seen downsizings, but this is more of a technology issue than a trade issue. He noted that we are importing more jobs with technology advances now, but it is not a plant with 2,000 workers, it will be one with 300 workers due to technology.